A Research On College Students' Stereotypes Of The Autistic Group

The social integration of the autistic group has always been the focus and difficulty of society.At present,the general public has prejudice,discrimination and stigma against the autistic group,which has become a major obstacle for the group to integrate into the society.Stereotypes are considered to be the initial stages of prejudice,discrimination as well as stigma.Therefore,doing a research on the stereotypes of the autistic group plays an important role in reducing or eliminating prejudice,discrimination or stigma.Contemporary college students are the forefront of new social ideas.If they have a stereotype of the autistic group and bring it to daily life or future jobs,it will make it more difficult for the autistic group to integrate into society.This research was aimed to investigate the current situation of college students'stereotypes of the autistic group,so as to provide a reference for how to help the autistic group better integrate into the society.This study included three parts:The first part used the free association and the semantic difference scale methods to compile The Autistic Group Semantic Difference Scale.The second part used the above scale to analyze the existence,characteristics,content structure,as well as factors of explicit stereotypes of the autistic group.The third part used the self-made scale and implicit association test programs to analyze the current situation of implicit stereotypes,and explored the relationships between explicit and implicit stereotypes by the implicit-explicit correspondence analysis.The results were as follows:?1?The internal consistency reliability and half-reliability were between 0.739and 0.851.The total scale was highly correlated with subordinate dimensions respectively(r_T-W=0.804,r_T-C=0.869).The relationship between two dimensions was moderately correlated?r=0.406?.The model fits was within acceptable range.?2?At the explicit level,the mean score of total stereotypes was significantly lower than the median(M_T-M=0.22,p=0.000).The mean score of the warmth dimension was significantly lower than that of the competence dimension(M_W-C=-1.02,p=0.000).?3?At the implicit level,the average response time required to complete the incompatible tasks was significantly higher than that in compatible tasks(M_IC-C=-477.16,p=0.000).The mean effect value of the warmth IAT was significantly higher than that of the competence IAT(M_W-C=0.10,p=0.000).?4?The correlations between the score of total scale,subordinate dimensions and the value of total IAT,warmth IAT,as well as competence IAT were small and insignificant?r:-0.025⁰.215,p>0.05?.?5?The total scores of explicit stereotypes held by students whose homes were located in rural areas,who were exposed to autism frequently or occasionally and had a classmate or friend contacting autism,a family or relative with autism,as well as colleague or student with autism at work were significantly lower than those whose homes were located in urban areas,exposed to autism never,had no a classmate or friend contacting autism,family or relative with autism,as well as colleague or student with autism at work?p<0.05?.Through analysis and discussion,the following conclusions could be drawn:?1?The Autistic Group Semantic Difference Scale included two dimensions:warmth and competence.It had good reliability and validity.?2?College students'stereotypes of the autistic group were generally negative.The content structure of explicit stereotypes was"low warmth,high competence",and the content structure of implicit stereotypes was"low warmth,low competence".?3?There was no obvious structural relationship between explicit and implicit stereotypes.?4?Students whether majoring in special education,family location,contact frequency,whether having a classmate or friend contacting autism,a family or relative with autism,as well as a colleague or student with autism at work affected the explicit stereotypes of the autistic group.However,the above factors did not affect the implicit stereotypes of the autistic group.